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Average daily electricity usage

October 2nd, 2007 at 10:27 pm

I was curious how much electricity I'd used since I got my first electric bill (for just 9 days) so I just checked the meter. I've used 562 kwh since that first bill.

My average daily usage on my last statement is 17 kwh. With today's reading and the number of days since the last reading, I can guesstimate that my average daily usage now is almost 22 kwh. Not as good as 17 kwh but it's been really hot and though I've kept AC use down, I have used it here and there. I'm also cooking more than I was the first 9 days I was here. So I can see the increase being reasonable. But I'm using the AC less than I was so I figured it would stay the same or be slightly less. Things that make you go hmmm....

On a website about green technology and tips to reducing electric consumption I found this:

"Monitor your electric usage daily. Chart it, if it helps. Keep a daily eye on it; like one would you were living off-grid. This will keep your focus on conservation. Set a goal for daily kWh usage, achieve it, and then try to go lower. An average American home uses 40 kWh per day. Efficient homes use as little as 14 kWh a day, which includes winter heating (electric heat pump). Some off grid homes as little as 1 kWh a day!"

So, my consumption is right at slightly less than half the average American's and that seems about right considering there's just one person in the household.

Since I want to reduce my electric bill, I'm setting an average daily use goal of 20 kwh or below, starting right now. I don't know if I can do it but hey, it can't hurt to try! If I can get it down to 20, I'm going to try for 18 and see what happens.

Here are a few good links about energy to check:

Find out how much energy is used by common household appliances:

http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricWeb/energyguy/appliances.htm

And here's how to do a home energy audit on your own home:

http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricWeb/selfaudit.htm

And here's a nice heat loss quiz:

http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricWeb/Heat%20Loss%20Quiz.htm

I imagine most of you know about the Energy Guy and others like him but it's still interesting information!

Out of curiosity, what is your household's average daily kwh usage and how many people are in your home?

16 Responses to “Average daily electricity usage”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1191363494

    Well I do monitor mine and try to keep it below 50 a day. In the winter it goes down. There are 2 in my family but I have a big house (3200 square feet) plus an efficiency apt above the garage. (we have two garages too)

  2. great white north Says:
    1203027477

    Just checked my bill and I'm down to 26 kWh/day from 33 last year. I did recently change all my incandescent bulbs for the 5-year, energy-efficient flourescents. Not keen on flourescent light, but the "daylight" ones are ok.

  3. Scott in CT Says:
    1211042890

    I just got my bill, during the cooler months October - May I run at about 10-12Kwh per day. In the summer I peak at about 17Kwh when I use AC for 7-10 days in August. I live alone in 1200sqft house.

  4. scott Says:
    1214515194

    41 in the spring in an 800sf apt. my ac runs constantly and i dont get below 78

  5. Bryan Says:
    1218562156

    I did this and the result shocked me. My usage averages 67 KWh per day when averaged over the year. I cannot believe that I use so much.

  6. Marty Says:
    1223553575

    We have a 2000 sq ft manufactured home with three adults and two children. Was purchased as having more insulation in roof and sides than was rated for our area. We have HUGE electric bills! over 4,000 kWh/month. Yes, per month! We have lived here 10 years and have always had about the same useage. It has been down a bit several times, but is mostly up there near the top. We got rid of a second refrigerator and a second freezer. Hardly made a ripple in our useage. We converted to CFL bulbs - hardly noticed an improvement. We have replaced refrigerator, washer and dryer with enery star efficient appliances and still have the high useage. We turn off lights, TV, etc when not in use. We use fans in every room. We run AC with thermostat at 80. In winter we run at 65. Utility company says they can't help us find the drain. They don't do that anymore. We are a low income family and can't afford to hire someone to come in and audit. We are at our wit's end. This bill is just killing us! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

  7. Dan Says:
    1224174281

    Marty - Most states have a department dealing with regulation of the utility companies. Try calling the one for your state and explain the situation. It could be a bad meter, an incorrect meter/account pairing (i.e., you're paying somebody else's meter), or maybe even an illegal tap! I find that placing a complaint with the state generally gets the big companies off their butts to help you. My family (2 adults, 2 kids) lives in a 2000 sq. ft. house built in 1920, and we almost always use less than 12 kWh a day. This is for the northeast with gas heat. You are using about 134 kWh a day... that's what we used at my old job at a small assembly plant!

  8. Glen Says:
    1232274382

    Marty -

    Locate your power meter and your circuit breaker. Find a time when you can safely shut down all your power and go through the breaker box one leg at a time until your meter stops spinning. Then throw one breaker at a time. Find all the appliances/lights/electronics on each breaker leg. Chart them in an Excel doc by name, location and breaker number. You can unplug them one by one until the meter stops spinning. Once you have all the energy using items in your home identified, you can use a "killawatt" meter or similar device to find out how much power each item uses. Chart the power usage next to each item in the Excel doc. Your culprits should jump out at you. I'd be willing to bet it is your hot water heater - that should be on a dedicated breaker.

    I did this in an office I was renting. I found out that the landlord had wired the hot water heater for the public bathroom to my meter and had bypassed my circuit breaker and I was unwittingly paying for the building's hot water supply.

  9. joseph Says:
    1322894973

    I live in 4300 square feet home in California. I've been monitoring my energy use for couple of years. we changed out all light bulbs with compact florescent and our average daily kwh is down to 14.

  10. gerry Says:
    1323519071

    my wife and I live in a 1900sf house. Nat gas for heat cooking, and hot water, electric for everything else. Two years ago our daily electric uses was 16.8 per day, this year we are down to 12.1 with a goal of 10 next year.
    All cfl lighting, upgraded to a 95% efficient furnace and a 13seer A/C. We got rid of our 20 yr old freezer and a mini fridge of about the same age. Most laundy is air dried as running the dryer 3x on laundry day added at least 6kwh per day. I have resealed all windows and doors and insulated the attic access door and the louvers on the whole house fan. TV and computers are on power strips which are switched off and we make sure to unplug wall-warts(charger/adapters) when not in use.

  11. Ruth Says:
    1335208793

    I don't know how you can make valid comparisons taking into account the geographical location, apartment or single family dwelling, the square footage, number of household members and lastly but probably the greatest impact, is the home heated with electricity. Heat pumps are very inefficient in cold climates. When it can't keep up, then the emergency heat coils kick in and then the meter is spinning!! For the record, 1500 sq ft single family home built in the 1980's, Northeastern U.S., two adult family members and one grown child who returns to do laundry once a week, dreaded heat pump. Average daily: 51KWH. I know that we can improve that number.

  12. Michelle Says:
    1361070665

    I need some help! I just moved into a home in Marysville, Oh. Last month we were not living here, had the heat pump set at 65, fridge, and deep freezer and hot water heater were plugged in. Nothing else going, because we were at our other house, packing up. Electric bill came, we used 3200 kwh, I called and had heat pump looked at, everything is running correctly, ugh 150 dollars to find out it was perfect. Electric company came out, meter checked out, and was dead on, actually lagging by 1%. Everyone says heatpumps are more efficient, I lived in Fl for 30 yrs with electric central heat and air, never spent over 900kwh a month on electric bill. This is a small house, 1200sf.. no basement, what should I check next? I bought a kwh meter and tested fridge, its normal ussage, hot water tank is set at 120.. where do i go from here? Also the heat man told me to use emergency when its below 30, I did this for 24 hrs, and used 175kwh, so i switched em heat off!

  13. Brittany Says:
    1364174899

    Hello.

    I live in WV I have a 1,008 SQ foot trailer. Everything is ran by electric. Also everything is brand new, hot water, furnace. everything. My bill is crazy. It says I'm using 5,793KWH in 30 days. That is 193.1 KWH a day. I'm a two person adult household. Im in school and he works full time. So we are home around 12-15 hours a day. My heater is set to 65. I don't know what to do.

  14. Gibs Says:
    1365493684

    Aloha from the islands. Out here in Honolulu I have a 2000 Sq Ft 4 bedroom with 2 adults, a and 4 kids living here. With no A/C on (shut off at the breaker) and doing laundry and dishes during the day as we have solar water heater, we are using average of 39 KWH per day. Crazy that with no AC at all I am still above most of you. Everything in the house is electric though.


    Gibs

  15. James Tylor Says:
    1377239780

    It is good to make a note of the average daily electricity usage of your home, to check the accuracy of the energy bill. It will help consumers to take steps to consciously reduce the energy usage and experience significant savings on their electricity bill.

  16. AtheistAtLARGE Says:
    1377464558

    Some good advice on checking each breaker one at a time and then isolating each item that is plugged into that breaker.

    Here's something else you guys havent concidered, someone is plugged into your meter and is getting FREE electric.

    This happens mostly in complexes and townhomes where something is misswired or purposefully rewired. However it can happen in rural areas where someone just runs an extention cord while youre gone ...

    You should be able to tell the electric company to just switch out the meter, if they dont call your city administrator and see if they can help or your states board of energy.

    Also, for those of need of assistance you can call your city admin and ask for assistance, you can even call the local union for electrical workers, they just might be tickeled pink to help out, unions are ALWAYS looking for a way to look good ...

    Now if the problem is a bad meter after all, then the electric company owes someone a lot of money in over paid bills ... might even be a class action law suit in that one

    I sure hope this helps someone, I hate being poor, but being rich has its disadvantages as well ... like which car do I take to the Hollywood ball, the benz, the rolls or the caddy ...

    Enjoy your day everyone

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